Hi all. In the current Jewelry Artist, I saw a small advertorial
about some LED lights from www.mightybright.com. I immediately
ordered one, and I am stoked! These things are great! I got the music
light, which runs on 3 AAA’s. It has 2 heads, each with a very bright
LED, and each on the sweetest little gooseneck I’ve ever seen. It
either stands up or clamps on, and I can see several ways it could
shed some crucial light on a task, while not getting much in the way
itself. They make several interesting variations. If you need light,
check these babies out!
Allan Mason
Note From Ganoksin Staff:
Looking for a led work light for your jewelry projects? We recommend:
Along the same line, I use a nice 6-led (single head) gooseneck for
facet inspection. It’s inexpensive, and can be found in (believe it
or not) the Wal-Mart garden department, where it’s sold as a light
to attach to on your outdoor barbecue.
Al Balmer
Sun City, AZ
I have both the single and double book lights and they are indeed
awesome. I bought both in my local independent bookstore. If you can,
support your local businesses!
Lisa Orlando
Albion, CA, US
Allan and all,
How does the color look on jewelry? I purchased some cheap LED lights
and they are way too blue to make the color of sterling look good.
Thanks,
Tracy
Tracy’s Treasures
Hi all. I too have been disappointed in the color of LED lights for
jewelry display. Even with all their other advantages, LEDs are just
too cold looking. I hope someone eventually tweaks them enough so
they make jewelry look good, but for now I’m sticking with halogens.
Although, I’m now wondering if there might be some sort of filter
that would improve the appearance.
Allan Mason
I too have been disappointed in the color of LED lights for jewelry
display. Even with all their other advantages, LEDs are just too
cold looking.
Before the white LEDs bacame common there were some companies trying
to make a reasonably coloured light by mixing blue and red ones in
the same fitting. Maybe the same approach would be needed here and
perhaps the colour would be better if, say, 1 in 5 white LEDs were
replaced by a yellow or orange one? I think that the problem just now
is that the LED manufacturers are striving to produce a lamp which
approximates daylight as closely as possible whereas we are more
comfortable with a softer, yellower light (maybe still not really
evolved from the use of candles??). We, here in the UK at least, are
soon to be banned from using incandescent light bulbs in what I can
only think is a misguided political initiative to save the planet.
How it will work in practice I don’t know as there are no
alternatives on the horizon for all the odd shaped and sized bulbs
currently being used in decorative domestic light fittings and I
doubt that anyone= has done a true analysis of the environmental and
human impact of the production and disposal of the alternative
fluorescent and LED lights with all the phosphorus, mercury and heavy
metals this involves (they haven’t said yet whether halogen is in or
out but halides are a very potent green house gas). However,
politicians aside, it is interesting that, since the introduction of
the incandescent bulb, no alternatives have been complet= ely
acceptable especially in a domestic or small area environment -
fluorescents are OK where there are a lot of them as in a shopping
mall but most people wouldn’t like one in their lounge due to flicker
problems and harsh shadows, also there are still many debates about
the ideal colour temperature of the light - discharge lighting such
as sodium lights (which have achieved almost acceptable colours) have
similar problems, halogen produces too ‘hard’ a light with dense
shadows making some people feel uncomfortable and LED has not yet
achieved the efficiency or softness of light needed to endear it to
the buying public. During my ‘working life’ as a facilities manager,
lighting played a significant role and one amusing fact I learned is
that sodium lighting can cure draughts! I had one office with 35+
girls all doing boring and repetetive computer work which was air
conditioned and lit by basic, ceiling mounted fluorescent lights and
I had a constant stream of complaints about cold draughts from the
girls. So, as an experiment, I turned off the ceiling lights and
installed a number of floor standing sodium discharge uplighters
which gave a rosy glowto the ceiling but still a similar overall
lighting level. The complaints stopped instantly! Go figure…
Best wishes,
Ian
Ian W. Wright
Sheffield UK
HI Allen,
I suspect you hit the nail on the head-First there is little
agreement on the ideal color temperature for jewelry display-I
suspect because what you want on shining upon your rack of gold chain
is not what you want to show diamonds in!
Filters or “gels” as movie makers call them are cheap and available
in all colors. As LED’s run without building heat, you can use the
cheap plastic stuff. I buy this in bulk and filter my light sources
for photography.
Using a paper cutter to make a gel into a filter for a rack of LED’s
would be easy. For the makers of these light to make or sell filters
would be even better!
Daniel Ballard
Daniel,
Would you have a recommendation for a gel color for sterling silver?
Or maybe a mix of colors. Also, if you have a source you like for the
film, can you share with us?
Thanks kindly,
Tracy
Tracy’s Treasures
Note From Ganoksin Staff:
Looking for a led work light for your jewelry projects? We recommend: